Spirited Away -2001- |top| Jun 2026

Why does this specific film, released in 2001, resonate so powerfully in the 2020s? Because the world has become more like Yubaba’s bathhouse.

"Once you meet someone, you never really forget them. It just takes a while for your memory to come back to you." ✨ Rewatching Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2001) spirited away -2001-

“I’m looking for the boiler room,” he said. Why does this specific film, released in 2001,

If the bathhouse is the film’s engine, the train ride to Swamp Bottom is its soul. In the third act, Chihiro, No-Face, and Yubaba’s giant baby board a silent train that glides across a shallow sea. The visual is devastatingly beautiful: water so still it looks like oil, a lonely platform, and silhouettes of commuters who are also shadows. It just takes a while for your memory to come back to you

, the witch who runs the bathhouse, is a grotesque caricature of capitalism and greed. With her oversized head, bouffant hair, and jeweled rings, she is a tyrant who signs contracts and steals names. Yet, Miyazaki complicates her character. She is not purely evil; she is a business owner under pressure, and surprisingly, a doting mother to a giant baby named Boh. This nuance prevents the film from becoming a simple battle of Good vs. Evil. There are no villains in Spirited Away , only conflicting interests.